Most GMs knew Pekovic was a beast. He was taken with the #31 pick a few years ago only because of the rules on signing foreign first round picks and would have likely been a lottery pick on talent alone had he not been under contract in Europe and could have come over immediately. Several teams tried to trade for that #31 pick to get Pekovic, but MIN was "lucky" enough to be the worst team in the league that year and kept that pick. Even while he "marinated" in Europe, he was considered one of the top young bigs internationally. People in the know are not at all surprised about Pekovic.